Two major world meetings took place in Lebanon in 2002—the Arab summit on March 27–28 and the 9th Francophone summit (which had been postponed a year because of the Sept. 11, 2001, events) on October 18–20. The Arab summit adopted a Saudi Arabian peace plan and transformed it into an Arab peace initiative that called upon Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian and Syrian lands occupied since 1967 and promised an Arab normalization of relations with Israel in return. French Pres. Jacques Chirac opened the Francophone summit, which later elected former Senegalese president Abdou Diouf as secretary-general, replacing the Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The meeting concentrated on cultural matters but also signaled its resistance to threatened U.S. moves against Iraq.

Following a visit to Lebanon in July, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham accused Lebanon and Syria of harbouring training facilities for “a new generation of terrorists.” The local press was furious and suggested that the Lebanese had been betrayed by an ungrateful guest who might at least have brought up the issue with his official hosts. The U.S. government asked Israel to put an end to aerial patrolling of Lebanon because it both contravened UN Resolution 425 and gave Hezbollah, the main Lebanese resistance force in the south, a reason not to lay down its arms.

A pro-Syrian bloc of Christian parliamentarians took shape in August to counter the Qornet Shehwan Gathering of anti-Syrian Christian politicians. The new group was expected to throw its support behind the Syrian presence in the country as guarantor of “sovereignty and independence,” according to its organizers.

The year 2002 witnessed the introduction of the new value-added tax. Although foreign debt was still about 180% of gross domestic product, the anticipated 40% budget deficit dropped to 35%. A study published in February found that 36% of Lebanon’s 13,616 government employees were redundant and represented a burden on the state treasury. Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri sought to reduce spending on the army and intelligence services but met resistance from Pres. Émile Lahoud.

After weeks of infighting the government reached an interim deal with the two mobile-phone companies whose contracts were scheduled to expire at the end of August. The companies would continue to run the sector for another five months, while all mobile phone revenues—estimated at $50 million a month—would go to the state. The two companies would receive $15 million a month as a fee for managing the networks, which served 800,000 users, and the government would receive a net revenue of $175 million until the end of January 2003, when an auction for two or more new licenses would take place. Middle East Airlines, Lebanon’s national flag carrier, was almost in the black, having posted no operating losses in 2002 and having purchased six new Airbus planes.